David Simpson - Post-Human Trilogy

“If you’re not feeling well,” Sanha replied, “I highly recommend getting one of the A.I.’s nan adjustments. You’ll feel right as rain afterward.”

“This is one issue where I’d prefer to deal with it the old-fashioned way, my friend. I’ll talk to you later.”

He inhaled deeply before using his mind’s eye to open the door of his quarters. As the door slid into the wall, it revealed his wife, sitting on the edge of their king-sized bed, her legs crossed as she stared out at the faux view of the mountains that made up the far wall of the room.

“It arrived right on time,” Aldous said.

She shifted her head slightly, so as to speak over her shoulder. “I saw. You were right. Universe 66 is, indeed, moving slower than we are. Congratulations.”

“Thank you,” he replied, “but this was just as much your hypothesis as it was mine.” He paused painfully for a moment as he considered his next words. “Why weren’t you there?”

His question made her turn to him, her expression quizzical. “You know why.”

It was true: He did know why. All of her attention was now focused on her resurrected former husband. He nodded. “I love you.”

Her mouth opened slightly in shock. She knew Aldous was not given to soft emotions. He could be hard at times—angry or inspired—but love was something that did not come easily to him. An emotional expression of tenderness was so rare that it left Samantha befuddled. “Aldous?”

“I can’t turn it off,” he continued. “I feel like a thief. I feel as though I stole you from him.”

“Aldous, please,” she began, her expression becoming sympathetic as she stood and walked toward him.

“I never thought we’d be together, Sam, but I always loved you—always.”

She froze. In all their time together, a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings like the one that was erupting before her now had never occurred. She’d intended to embrace him, but instead stood in silence and listened.

“I thought at first that I could express my love by being the best mentor I could possibly be. I thought if I helped you achieve your potential—if you stood on my shoulders—that it would be enough for me.” His eyes, which had been locked on hers, suddenly drifted to the side as she stared into the dark recesses of his memory. “Then he died. And then you were alone. I was too old to be a lover, but I thought, perhaps, I could be a father figure. I thought, perhaps, we could become family. I thought that would be enough for me.”

To her amazement, she watched as twin tears began to well in the corners of his eyes. She stepped to him and grasped his hand as he continued.

“It wasn’t enough though. It just…wasn’t.” He nearly choked on the words. She silently embraced him, wrapping her arms around him and putting her cheek against his chest. “Sometimes I think my quest for immortality was as much about becoming young for you as it was about saving the lives of every living soul on Earth.”

She nearly gasped as she pulled her face from his chest and met his eyes, stunned.

He shook his head. “Even if you put a gun to my head, I honestly couldn’t tell you which was the stronger motivation. I’ve loved you for so long, Samantha. I just can’t turn it off.”

She put her head back against his chest and closed her eyes firmly as her grip on him tightened. He squeezed her back, resting his cheek against the top of her head. “You’re my everything, Aldous,” she whispered through tears.

Suddenly, a warning flashed in both of their minds’ eyes. Their embrace ended as they each stood straight, shocked. The warning system had never been triggered before, but they both knew what it meant.

“The LIDAR has picked up a threat!” Aldous stated, alarmed.

“It has to be a mistake,” Samantha quickly cautioned.

“I designed the warning system with the A.I. myself. There’s no such thing as a false alarm.”

“You are correct, Professor Gibson,” the A.I. broke in, his image appearing in both of their minds’ eyes as he, too, reacted to the proximity warning. “I’ve evaluated the information, Professor Gibson, and I’m afraid the Purist government has discovered our location,” he informed them emotionlessly. “There’s a hostile armada headed our way.”

“What are you talking about?” Craig asked, stunned. “Hostile armada?”

“Affirmative,” the A.I. replied. “I’m already processing images of hundreds of airships. The Purists appear to be intent on eliminating the post-humans with this strike.”

“Can’t you fight?” Craig responded. “You’ve got unlimited power! You said so yourself!”

“We have no weapons,” Aldous suddenly interjected, cutting into their conversation, his visage appearing in Craig’s mind’s eye.

Craig suddenly felt the urge to gouge out his own eyes. “ You ,” he whispered, his mouth twisting with vitriol.

“We’re researchers,” Aldous continued. “We save lives. We don’t take them.”

“Where is he?” Craig asked the A.I. in a low voice.

“Headed toward us,” the A.I. replied. “He should be here in seven seconds.”

“Terrific,” Craig replied as he quickly jogged to the door of the room, his right hand balled into a tight fist.

“Craig,” the A.I. reacted as he processed the image of the fist and the threatening stance Craig had taken, “you don’t intend to strike Aldous, do you?”

“Absolutely…as hard as I can,” Craig replied, his teeth clenching.

The door slid open, and as soon as Aldous took a step inward, Craig punched him, as promised, as hard as he could across the jaw. The blow drove Aldous back out the door and sent him stumbling off of his feet, onto his back.

Samantha had been only a few steps behind him, so she was quick to see the results of the vengeful attack. She turned to him, disgusted, before dropping to her knees to cradle Aldous into a sitting position. “You had no right to do that,” she snapped, holding back her anger and hurt the best she could.

“Like hell,” Craig replied, the corner of his lip curled atavistically. “The two of you disgust me.”

Her expression suddenly filled with so much hurt that Craig nearly felt shame for what he’d done. “This man brought you back, Craig! This man saved your life! Don’t you see that?”

Aldous shook himself free from his wife and got to his feet. “Enough of this!” he shouted as he brushed past Craig and entered the room. “You can sort out your personal problems later! Right now, we’ve got lives to save!” He turned to the A.I. “We need to preserve you. That’s our number one priority. Nothing matters as much as that. Do you understand me?”

“I do,” the A.I. replied, “but that runs contrary to the primary objective of my life— to put every other life above mine. ”

“You won’t be able to do that if they destroy you!” Aldous countered. “Are we clear? You must survive!”

“We are clear,” the A.I. answered.

“Good. How much time do we have?”

“Nine minutes and seventeen seconds at their current velocity and trajectory. Their aircraft are equipped with all the latest stealth technology, so it is reasonable to conjecture that they don’t know we’ve detected them already. That is an important advantage.”

“Not much, if you’ve only got nine minutes,” Craig cut in, momentarily putting his feud with Aldous on hold. “What kind of counterattack can you put together with so little time?”

“The counterattack isn’t our priority,” Aldous replied. He turned to the three figures with whom he shared the room. “The priority is that we get the three of you out of here safely before the attack arrives.”